Monday, 30 November 2015

Psssttt...Winter has arrived friends. November is a funny old month; when leaves finally fall after hanging on seemingly impossibly for weeks, that darker, colder morning is hard to adjust to and the days seem to be swept away. I'm sure I probably haven't actually done that much during the month but it seems to fleet by nonetheless. My favourite photo of the month (which lets face it- all are Instagram snaps) is celebrating my seven year anniversary with this bundle of winter beard above.

My best friend was in an actual magazine for FOUR pages. It was the most brilliant of articles and you should check out her handmade knitwear winter discount here!

I ran around with the messiest hair pretty much all month. And wore the same scarf almost every single day.

Local art in my local town. I walk past this all the time and never stop to look. It's quite great really!

Dared to get the smallest pinch of festivities rolling in the house by buying this pretty little poinsettia for a whole pound at Lidl!

Spent a Sunday sat up at the bar like a proper lad and put the world to right with a lovely friend.

Started The Great Gatsby. It's all very grand! And invested in a snuggly wooly blanket that totally had to be bought being reduced from £59 to £17!!

Had one pretty stripes and snazzy sunrise! Look at that palm tree making St Austell look all fancy. You ain't fooling St Austell.

And had a bitterly cold morning that was only made slightly better by this view over Truro .

Baked for the first time in actual months. I wanted to get a little practice bake in before starting the festive treats and this banana, honey and blueberry loaf got pretty good reviews!

And finally, spent some time being an utter weirdo with this creature.

I'm desperate to find some new and exciting people to stalk in this darker days, send me all the links to all the people!

Friday, 27 November 2015

So here we are. Another month coming to an end and another list of people that I'm sure you already stalk as much as me because they're all just really rather splendid. On a side note, how great is the illustration above?

Lets get down to the stalk...

Sarah at Daydreams of Summertime has opened a shop! It is filled with beautiful things! Go see right now (and then come back and finish reading this...)

Charlotte over at The Tea Drinking Rose is in her third trimester and has less than four weeks to go! Send her lots of love and good luck!

The ever fabulous Chelsea at Love In Modern Life posted the most adorable photos of Monty that made me squeal out loud on a crowded train. It's not secret that I long to have a long haired dachshund called Bernard one day.

I feel as though Michelle speaks to my soul when she writes. Over on Life Outside London, she takes about not being able to do everything. As someone who laughs a hearty 'ha' at that (it rings so true you see!) I just love everything about her other than being on the wrong side of the 'correct etiquette for a cream tea' Devonshire way. *hiss*

Shelby's bridal photos were just incredible. I gawped at every single one. She of course looked beautiful and that setting is like something out of a painting! Gawp for yourself at A Day In The Life.

Mark of That Gent Mark has been getting all festive and his photos look so cosy that I want to stalk wherever he goes in real life (getting to a whole other level of stalk now...)

Lisette's bedside table is a thing of dreams. It's like every Pinterest lovers perfect collection of beautifully curated items. (I have glanced over to my own, shoddy table that's filled with tablets, half melted candles and many a note in shame). Marvel at it's beauty at Lisette Loves.

Rosie from A Rosie Outlook has revolutionised my bath times. Hold the goodamn door. Yes I really said that. As someone who is a total yoga novice but enjoys the attempt at it, travelling for three extra hours a day has left me feeling without the motivation time to actually get my mat and stretch myself into calmness. I also am a total bath fiend. The two combined have blown.my.mind.

So that should keep you busy for a little while! I'd love to hear of anyone else you think I'd like to meet!

Sunday, 22 November 2015

This is a face of genuine sadness, one evening trying to get home still at 8pm. (I leave work at 4.30pm!)

If we're friends on Facebook (or maybe even in tweet-land!) You may have realised that I, over the last seven months, have started commuting like a real life adult. My commute is pretty hardcore- three hours in total a day and I've been adjusting to train life (totally the same thing as thug life incase you wondered). My daily trips slowly take over my entire social media as I hunt for sympathy on a regular basis and I thought 'Hey why not extend that to my blog and get even more sympathy!" Oh and by the way 'Great Western Railway' if you're reading, I feel that by using the word 'Great' in your name kicks me in the proverbial balls every day.

So here's the start of my new series, the diary of being a train wanker if you like and I thought I'd do a little catch up to now with a few of my favourites of the magical photos I've taken over the last few months, as well as some desperate posts to the world.

Top to Bottom:

Spending most mornings fashioning my scarf into a pillow for the train. Tip number one GWR, get complimentary pillows for those having to spend a small fortune on your season passes.

That time I took a free coat rack on the train and almost gave up and left it there.

Tip number two GWR, (and this is a biggy) I know we live in Cornwall-land and should be happy to even have trains in the first place, but two fucking carriages on the commuters train home from the only city in the bleedy county is actually insane. I spend far too much time standing far too close to strangers.

Another sad face for lingering sympathy after a morning train being cancelled and getting anxious about how late I'll be for work.

And lets start with the most recent. Just yesterday I was in a faff first thing...

And this was one particularly bad morning that had a lovely little result of being more than three hours delayed and getting in a whole lot of trouble. Cheers GWR.

Sophie Louise-Anne RussellEugh got to the station at 7 and the night riviera was at the platform...turns out the brakes have seized to the track and I've been sitting here for over an hour now! They're just about to test it or start ordering coaches 😑

Sophie Louise-Anne RussellI am now on a train to Falmouth where some fucking idiot woman is singing loudly to Mariah Carey and gyrating against the trains fire extinguisher. It's all got too much to be honest.....😦

So all trains are cancelled from Falmouth. I'm handing out mini cakes to my fellow stranded friends and we're starting a new community at the train station.

And if this all wasn't enough to excite you for my upcoming weekly documentation of just how much Cornwall's railway system is buggered, there is my favourite photo below of a man who simply gave up on life, This is the Monday morning sleeper train where he took the idea of 'sleeper' to the max. Yes that's him on the floor with his ticket by his head. (Told you the pillows would be a good idea!)

Saturday, 21 November 2015

It can be pretty hard to tell when your completely black, unable to sit still and horribly fidgety rabbit isn't quite right. I think the main thing that fellow pet owners would agree on when your pet's sick is a change in their behaviour. Batman is usually pretty upbeat, leaping across the sofas and lapping around the room. Basically, when he stays still for long periods of time and you can't hear him snoring loudly, there's something wrong. He was eating, drinking and pooping just fine but we noticed that he wasn't putting any pressure on his back leg, holding it close to his body and walking instead of running. After a day of resting in his hutch, limiting his movement, things still weren't right. Time for a trip to the vets.

At almost three, Batman has only been to the vets once before on dreaded "Ball-a-versary" and I was anxious about how he'd behave. Previously he's been prefect. right up until the vet handed him back to us stating "He's still pretty drowsy from the anaesthetic" He bit her. Sending Harps in and telling Batman I loved him, I'm ashamed to admit I stayed in the reception, tearing at the thought of the vet having to examine him and the pain it might cause ( I know this is really pathetic. Deal with it.) I heard whoops and laughs coming from the room and thought "What have they done?!" Turns out Batman felt well enough to leap from the scales onto the floor. A few minutes later they came out, prescribing Bats some pain killer in a little syringe, stating he'd probably pulled a muscle. He needed to rest. Now the first time Batman tried his medicine I was amazed at how well behaved he was. In hindsight it was more than likely down to being glad to get home. Every night after was like a military operation.

Soon Batman was back to normal, lounging on the bed and generally loving life since the heating has been on in the evenings. Batman loves snuggling in winter.

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Late at night when we should be really going to sleep (especially me!) Harps and I can't help ourselves but to turn onto Challenge TV and watch a little old school gameshows. Usually aiming for that prime slot of Bullseye so we can shout with Bully at the tv screen and cringe at the lack of political correctness. Over the last few days however, we caught some classic Catchphrase and I've genuinely spent any moment of relaxation since, giggling at the phrase...

"Like a bear with a sore head."

Now if like me you've never heard that phrase, you may have many immediate questions; Are bears notorious for headaches? What happens when a bear has a sore head? Does one wish to be like a bear with a sore head or is it something to avoid? And is it sore from injury? Are there bandages? Oh how I have laughed and laughed thinking about this recently. Simple things as they say."To be in a bad mood that causes you to treat others badly and complain a lot." Is the most common definition that I could find but the origin is a little more interesting. Though some debate between British, American or Australian origins, it's suggested overall that the idiom was coined by early hunters, who when trying to kill a bear found that shooting/attacking their heads directly did little more than anger them. As I can imagine it would!

My name is Sophie Louise Anne, I live in Cornwall with my pretty boy, Harps and my even prettier rabbit, Batman. I am often described as weird because of my love of cats, fancy dress, old people, tea, cake, dresses, T-Rex's and laughing at my own jokes. I'm a bit of a mind-wanderer, peacemaker, basic baker, tattoo addict, wanderluster and book worm. I really DISLIKE feet, any spoon larger than a teaspoon, mannequins, Nicholas Cage (Offensive face) and Arnold 'I'm a robot in real life' Schwarzenegger. Creep.
Have a gander about me right.. here.